It’s summer grilling season, but for many Americans, surging prices mean beef is no longer what’s for dinner.
The cost of beef, having spiked since early 2025, is coming under even more pressure. The most recent is the screwworm outbreak that hit cattle in Mexico and has now spread to the United States, where the cattle herd has already fallen to levels not seen since the 1950s, due in part to drought.
As international trade and livestock economists, Professor of Agricultural Economics and Blasingame Chair of Excellence in Agricultural Policy Andrew Muhammad and Assistant Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics Charles Martinez have studied how North American trade has deeply integrated cattle and beef markets, influencing production, prices and the movement of animals and meat products across Canada, Mexico and the United States. Read more at The Conversation.
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